What would be the best solution for my Delphi apps on Linux - Delphi+Wine or Lazarus?

Question

I need to make my Delphi solutions available on Linux and I have tested them on both Wine and Lazarus. What are the technical considerations I should take into account (Programming, Deployment, Maintenance etc.) on the longer term in order to avoid landing in a maintenance nightmare. I keep my Windows components used pretty standard to avoid complexities that may develop on cross-platform. I am looking for some hard facts that should go beyond being subjective. I do not want to consider .Net/Mono because this will set me back immediately (Huge Delay to market) which I cannot afford.

I can think of some:

1. Lazaraus may require some (changes) programming to make code work.
2. Wine is a more difficult environment to maintain at a large base of customers.

You contribution on this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I would say there is no golden rule there. It will really depend on how much of the components you use are supported with Lazarus.

I'd start testing with lazarus and keep Wine as a backup in case you get desperate.

The Codegear plans are still very vague (they are only "looking at it", but at the same time they smear the 64-bit rollout over two full versions, so even if this makes progress this could take quite a while)

The quick timeline makes me think that the Apple version will use QT, not native apis.

Update: nearly 4 years, and still no Linux support. Trees grow faster.